Viral News: A 23-member panel yesterday advised emergency use of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine just as talk show host Ellen Degeneres announced that she has been diagnosed with Covid-19.

  Degeneres shut down show production, just another Covid hit on the economy and an indicator of its reach.

  The vaccine still needs to be formally approved by the FDA, which is expected within a few days, if not today. Airlines and delivery services are gearing up to transport and distribute the vaccine, which must be kept at 100 degrees below zero.

  Another 2,740 Americans died of the virus yesterday and health authorities warn that the death rate might stay that high for weeks to come. The country is suffering the impact of Thanksgiving travel and gathering. At least 15.6 million Americans have been infected and 292,190 have died.

  As the virus continues to rage out of control, President Trump says nothing about it except that he doesn’t want Joe Biden to take over the fight. He tweeted, “Now they want to come in and take over one of the ‘greatest and fastest medical miracles in modern day history.’ I don’t think so!”

Rage Against the Machine: This morning, President Trump inexplicably tweeted, “I just want to stop the world from killing itself!”

 Yesterday he was raging on Twitter about the Texas lawsuit to overturn the election. “Tremendous support from all over the Country,” Trump tweeted.  “All we ask is COURAGE & WISDOM from those that will be making one of the most important decisions in our Country’s history.”

  Presumably he’s talking about the Supreme Court. The President does not have anything close to tremendous support, although 100 members of Congress have signed on to the lawsuit.

 A Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week says 79 percent of American adults believe Joe Biden won the presidential election. Sixty percent of Republicans told pollsters that Biden won.

  Texas is suing Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, claiming changes in their election laws before the election diminished the value of votes in other states. Texas sued after the votes were cast, not before, making its argument even weaker.

  Legal experts say it’s extremely unlikely that the Supreme Court will take on the Texas lawsuit to overturn results in those four states, let alone rule in favor of Texas. 

  The suit rests much of its argument on statistical analysis by economist Charles Cicchetti, who claims Biden’s odds of winning the four defendant states were “1 in 1,000,000,000,000,000.” He based his analysis largely on how much Trump was leading on election night before the absentee ballots swung the night in favor of Biden.

University of Texas law professor Steve Vladek told The Wall street Journal that, “If Texas gets its way, the Supreme Court will basically be throwing out a presidential election despite no evidence of fraud or that the results aren’t accurate.” 

 Cicchetti didn’t think the absentee vote would have a different Trump/Biden split from the in person vote. He also considered it statistically suspicious that Trump could lose four states he won in 2016, which makes you wonder if he’s been paying attention these past four years.

He’ll Have a Manhattan: State prosecutors in Manhattan have been talking to  employees of President Trump’s bank and insurance broker, indicating that the Manhattan DA is still looking at criminal charges against the President. The NY Times reports that prosecutors have interviewed people who work for Deutsche Bank and the insurance brokerage, Aon. 

  There’s been a lot of speculation that Trump would give himself a blanket pardon for crimes committed, but he has no power to excuse himself for state crimes.

The Bulletin Board: The federal government last night executed Brandon Bernard, who was 18 when he took part in a 1999 double murder in Texas. It was the first of what is expected to be a rush of five federal executions before the end of the Trump presidency. — The market value of Airbnb spiked to more than $100 billion on its first day of public trading on the stock market. — Israel and Morocco at long last have agreed to establish diplomatic relations. The deal in part is the result of talks conducted by the president’s senior advisor, his son-in-law Jared Kushner. — Taylor Swift has released her second album of the year. We don’t use the word “dropped.”

Cover Couple: Time has named President and Vice President-elect  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the magazine’s persons of the year. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted, “I’m shocked. Just shocked. Who could have possibly seen this coming??”

  Oh, maybe 81.3 million Americans voters.

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